While Pegula played lights-out tennis from the
start she also had an edge given Samsonova had to play the match
about two hours after upsetting third seed Elena Rybakina in a
rain-postponed semi-final clash meant to be played on Saturday.
"It's tough, it sucks, I feel bad that we weren't able to play
on a more fair playing ground," Pegula said after securing her
second WTA 1000 title.
Pegula, who beat doubles partner Coco Gauff and world number one
Iga Swiatek on the way to the final, was clearly the more rested
of the two players and it did not take long for the unfortunate
scheduling to show its impact.
The top-ranked American won a remarkable 100% of her first-serve
points, broke Samsonova five times and never faced a break point
while wrapping up the one-sided victory in 49 minutes.
Pegula was in control throughout as she went up a double break
before closing out the first set on her serve and faced no
resistance from Samsonova in the second frame.
Pegula was well aware of the edge she carried into the match and
made sure to credit the Russian 15th seed, whose path to the
final also included a win over reigning Australian Open champion
and world number two Aryna Sabalenka.
"She had some amazing, two top-10 wins beating two girls that
are some of the best players in world, top five right now, and
wining Grand Slams," said Pegula.
"To me, she should be a top-10 player, hopefully she gets there
and she's had great results. So kudos to her and I feel bad that
it wasn't the way it should have been but I guess that's just
the way it goes sometimes."
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Emelia
Sithole-Matarise and Chris Reese)
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